3D objects and models, i need elaboration

[rhardwick]

I am new to game design and programming and the such but i do know how to do some 3D modeling. Well anyways, what i was wondering is if it was possible to make models of environments such as grass or hills and have them placed over the BSP for a more realistic environment? I don't really know how to word that exactly...also, how can i import models from caligari's truespace 7.61 into reality factory? I have read the Making 3D Games with Reality Factory book but it never seems to elaborate on both of these subjects. It gave a broad view and definition of models and bump-mapping and such but...as i said, i am sort of new at this.

[zany_001]

You can indeed use models as props or terrain; I would go as far as to say it's a better idea to do the whole level geometry in a different modeling program, and export it to RF.

As for truespace, check the downloads section or google for trueGene, which should convert from truespace to RF formats.

[rhardwick]

ahh cool thank you very much =] so i can theoretically make the shell of my game using the standard rfedit level maker and fill it with 3D models of things such as walls and realistic ground terrain? Like say i want to make a cave with rock formations, i could essentially make a standard rectangular hallway using rfedit then cover the hallway walls with models of rock formations and rock walls so it doesn't look completely flat and polygonal?

[Jay]

Yes that is exactly the way to go. You would use a 3d model and then build invisible world brushes around it to provide collision detection.
You can also use the StaticMesh collision detection (usually number 2) for an easy way out, but that can be a lot slower.

That and... welcome to the forums!

[Veleran]

If you could find a way to export meshes as bsp,that bsp geometry could be made by extruded triangles ,vertex edited afterwards.
I mean the invisible clip flagged brushes could be created more flexible in a modelling program.

Whatever brush you want to hide the player from the pawns flag it as solid (instead of clip) and check the transparency box in the face properties of the brushes.

You could make a level from extruded convex triangles of various sizes and export as bsp in rfeditpro to test if all brushes have been imported successfully.

I once created a whole scull cave entrance from several triangles in the front viewport and then extruded and imported them in rfeditpro.

As long as you use snaps of 8-16-32 etc and place each spline vertex to the grid,you can handle the precision needed and keep the brushes the convex.

As for the cave,have in mind that the stencil shadows will appear on the invisible brushes too (on thin air)
so make the mesh bigger than the invisible collision brushes.

For the moment if you cant vertex edit and export as bsp from truespace directly,until you find a way to do so,
you can try the terrain generators and make the four sides and the ceiling of the cave separately and assemble them in rfeditpro.
Important-If the cave has many brushes,make sure you group each wall to a seperate group so you can check the box for visible or not,so you can hide parts of the cave to speed up rebuilding.
Dont leave the brushes without a texture applied to them even if they ll be invisible.

The smooth cave mesh can be done by exporting the walls from rfeditpro as 3ds import in truspace ,select all the vertices and use the heal tool to weld them.Delete the outer part if it wont be visible from the outside.
Anyway i guess the terrain outside the cave would be another terrain.
Then assign material ids , 3d paint some textures and convert to actor.

[rhardwick]

Awsome, thank you all for the explanations! Much appreciated =]

[Veleran]

The simpler the better,so -the easiest and best way to make a cave is to make it in nems terrain generator-for example
in two parts --top/bottom with displace bitmaps that do the height deformation.

Make one noisy displace map with bright grays on the center (to lift the cave "dome" upwards),

and one displace map for the cave floor that its outline matches the ceiling's displace

Displace strength should be the same for both ceiling and floor so you can have the two brushes touching but
not intersecting.

An easy way to do this is to copy the ceiling displace map and invert it.
Then change it a little in the middle areas (add some height levels-steps,stalagmites or whatever).

[Jay]

They have nice tutorials on Nems site:

http://nemesis.thewavelength.net/index.php?p=12

At the bottom there is a tutorial for making a cave and exporting it accordingly. Also i find texturing in Nems (once you downloaded Wally from the internet and built a *.wad file) very easy compared to texturing in rfedit. Just use the paint tool, it's really easy.